I am very proud to announce that my single California Babe has been ranked number 1 on November’s IndiMusic TV’s Top 21 Countdown!

I’d like to share this accomplishment with all of my supporters out there! Here is a short video of us celebrating the win! Thank you to all of those who are behind me on this long journey we call life

]]>http://www.boweber.com/news/california-babe-hits-1-on-indimusic-tv/feed/0Volume One Interviewhttp://www.boweber.com/news/volume-one-interview/
http://www.boweber.com/news/volume-one-interview/#respondFri, 06 Nov 2015 03:47:17 +0000http://www.boweber.com/?p=710I sat down with Nikki Lanzer from Volume One Magazine to talk about my single ‘California Babe’ and my love for this new style of music, which I’m diving head first into! The article had to be summed up to half a page, so I thought I would share my full answers with you all, incase you wanted to learn more

Q: What inspired you to write California Babe in the first place?

A: California Babe was one of many demos I had recorded and set aside to finish for another day. Originally titled “3000 Miles”, the track had a rough acoustic guitar lick and only a few lines of verse written. I avoided working on the song for months, due to lack of direction and current void of creativity. It sat silently on my hard drive as the bare bones of an idea until last winter.

As many do, my girlfriend Emily and I reached a difficult time in our relationship, which of course is great songwriting material, haha. We were currently renting out 1 room in a home in Minneapolis. Put yourself in a room with anyone, and you’re guaranteed to get on each others nerves. Long story short, we broke up and she left. I didn’t know where she was going.
Emily is originally from Bakersfield, California and she had always talked about moving back there again some day. The day she left sparked a surge of creativity. I opened up the session and began working on it. I worked on it all weekend, day and night, tweaking things here and there. Surprisingly, she came through the door a few days later. I played the song for her and she really liked it, which smoothed things over pretty well, haha.

Q: What have you been doing (musically and otherwise) since The Silver Heart Club?

A: When SHC ended, I felt I had lost eight years of dedication and hard work. I felt defeated in a way and wasn’t prepared to begin working on a new musical project from scratch. So, I took a breather from music for a few weeks and started up www.MusicInMinnesota.com, a website that features interviews and performances from national acts who pass through Minnesota. It blossomed into a great tool for me as an artist because I’ve been able to have conversations with many successful artists and soak up as much knowledge as they’re willing to throw at me.

Deep down, I knew that jumping into a new project wasn’t going to help my depression, but I love to create and continue to build. My mom had left behind a shelf full of books in her room. I took them all with the intentions on reading them so I could possibly reach her level of happiness and faith that she had. The first book I read was called, “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne and it completely changed my perspective on life.

The Secret is based on the law of attraction and talks on how positive thinking can create life-changing results such as increased happiness, health, and wealth. I didn’t stop there; I began downloading countless self-help audio books and listening to them in my free time. These practices in the books are in fact changing my life for the better. I recommend everyone from all walks of life to check out this information that is available to us all. It’ll blow your mind. Since then, I’ve been focusing on becoming an all-around better person. I also DJ for a 5k color run called The Color Dash. I fly all around the country to play music and throw colored corn starch at runners. It’s a great time.

I am currently working as a Wardrobe Assistant for an independent Christian film taking place in Owatonna, Minnesota for the entire month of October. The film is called Zombies. So far, the experience has been so much fun. I love being surrounded by creative people. Video interests me just as much as music does, so I feel very grateful to have this unique opportunity to be apart of a film.

Q: Was your girlfriend the actress featured in the video?

A: Yes! She certainly was. The music video was her first time ever being on camera, so it was something a little uncomfortable for her, but she loosened up half way through the shoot. I think she did great! It was the perfect opportunity for Emily to visit family in California while we were visiting!

Q: How has she been a help and support throughout your journey as an artist?

A: There is never a moment when Emily isn’t there for me. She breathes confidence back into me when self-doubt crushes my spirits, pushes me to take action on my ideas and gives her valuable unbiased opinion on the new songs I’m working on. She’s not afraid to tell me she hates a song, haha.

Q: Were there any challenges you encountered while making this single? (Warning: Long Answer, haha)

A: Challenges? Absolutely! I paid a studio in Minneapolis a couple hundred dollars to record my vocals for California Babe. They had an assortment of high quality microphones and a great vocal booth. It felt really good when recording the vocal takes, until my mixing engineer Adam confessed that he thought my demo vocals sounded better than the vocals I just paid to record. So, what you’re actually hearing on the final version of the song is vocal takes of me singing from my computer chair at home. Maybe that’s why it sounds so relaxed, haha.

Here’s the big one…On my way home from work one day, my fuel pump went out traveling on i94. The money I had saved to fund my music was needed to cover the cost of the repairs. Once the part had been replaced, I picked up the car and headed to Albertville to meet up with Adam, my mixing engineer. It was stop and go traffic most of the way. As traffic loosened up I accelerated to 65 mph with the Albertville exit just ahead. Suddenly, all I saw was darkness, accompanied by an extremely loud “BANG!”

It all happened so fast. My brain couldn’t process what the heck happened. I thought I’d been shot or something! I was breathing in particles of glass as I tried to pull over to the shoulder of the road as safely as possible. After getting out and taking a look at my car, it was clear the mechanic back at the shop did not latch my hood properly, which resulted in the hood catching wind and smashing my entire windshield.

I slowly cruised my car to Adam’s studio, determined to finish mixing California Babe that night. Just my luck, Adam had bad news. The session kept crashing every time he tried to playback the song. We weren’t able to make any progress that night. I finished the day with the stress of my car being totaled and the possibility of my session being corrupt.

Fortunately, the owner of the shop compensated me for my damages and Adam was able to get the song up and running correctly. Once the song was finished, I felt the need to pair it up with a music video. If I was going to introduce myself to the world as Bo Weber, I wanted to do it right.

So, I used the money I received from my car to buy a couple tickets to California!
I found an affordable videographer on craigslist along with an old truck for Emily to drive during the video. The morning of the shoot, the man who owned the truck cancelled our agreement. Since the truck was crucial to have in the video, I began driving around the streets of Los Angeles in my rental car, scouting for old Ford trucks. I had knocked on a handful of front doors, and talked to a few people who were filling up at gas stations, but nobody felt comfortable with letting us use their vehicle for the shoot.

I drove back to our place and began scouring Craigslist Cars & Trucks listings once again. Luckily, a man with a 1971 Baby Blue F250 responded to my email, agreeing to rent out his truck for one day. We met up with the owner of the truck on set the very next morning. As he was walking up to us, he asked the videographer, “Is that a Panasonic GH3?”.

It turned out that the owner of the truck knew a thing or two about cameras. He then told us he is a camera operator for the USA Television Series Covert Affairs, Conan O’brien, MTV Movie Awards and much more.

He was an incredible help on set by giving the videographer tips and suggestions for scenes and angles. Not at all what I was expecting from a random craigslist guy trying to sell an old truck!

Q; How have you changed stylistically from your former days in the band?

A: I feel that I’ve grown up an enormous amount within the last two years. I’m sure a lot has to do with the death of my mother. When you lose someone, you become more sensitive; at least I did. I’ve noticed certain sounds now have the ability to affect me on more of an emotional level than before. Specific chords of an instrument can fill my heart with a feeling that I can only pinpoint as general nostalgia. My goal is to identify those sounds and chords and create music that moves me, as well as others. I believe that music is an incredible tool for healing, whether you are the listener or creator.

I had a great time playing pop/punk music, however, personal tastes naturally change as you get older. I discovered deep house music online and immediately fell in love. The sounds I heard from these newly discovered songs were warm and the vibe was comforting. Deep house is basically simplistic and relaxing electronic music. (Not the dubstep headaches you might be thinking of when you hear the word “Electronic”.)

Q: How have you developed your own unique sound?

A: Moving from pop/punk music to what I’m doing now was a process that involved completely changing the way I created music. I have spent hundreds of hours experimenting with new digital instruments and learning a style that’s very foreign to me.

I focus much of my time dialing in on specific synthesizer wave forms, arpeggios, and drum samples. There are hundreds of synth presets to choose from within the midi plug-ins, however I prefer to tweak and customize each synth to my liking, which often takes more time than the actual song writing itself. It’s interesting how manipulating the shape of a sound wave can drastically change the identity of the instrument. Yet, the songs I will be releasing still don’t quite meet my expectations. My biggest battle is I know how I want my records to sound, and if they don’t match up with my vision, it’s not good enough to show to the public. There will never be a shortage of knowledge to obtain in this industry. That’s why I love music.

Q: Can we expect any other new releases soon?

A: Yes! Thanks to awesome family and friends, I recently successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign! My goal was to raise $3000 to record a five-track album in memory of my mom, Wendy. Luckily I have the best friends and family around who support what I do, so I can do what I do. I am constantly working on the album; whether it be during a flight home from a Color Dash or a day off from filming. The estimation release date is sometime January!

I am so happy to see my first single California Babe getting the amount of attention it has gotten in only a few short months. My supporters have been doing such a great job by spreading the word about the music I’m creating! I cannot thank you enough for this. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to get nearly as far sharing my art with the world.

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]]>http://www.boweber.com/uncategorized/685/feed/4Words From A Friendhttp://www.boweber.com/news/words-from-a-friend/
http://www.boweber.com/news/words-from-a-friend/#respondSun, 27 Sep 2015 04:58:07 +0000http://www.boweber.com/?p=635My friend Shasta has a very compelling story. She was kind enough to let me share it with you.

My name is Shasta. I am one of four children. My parents were married. From the outside, we seemed to be a big happy family. However, inside the walls of our home was a nightmare. At 8 years old, I got a black eye for not folding a towel the right way. At 13, we watched one of our siblings have a knife held to their neck. I also distinctly remember being hit with a plastic baseball bat and going to bed with out dinner often.

I lived in fear, my heart was empty and I was lost. When I was 14, I went into foster care for two years. I went back home when I was 16, but while there was no longer physical abuse, I didn’t feel loved. When I turned 18, I moved out and began living on my own. The years of abuse from my parents left me depressed. I kept my shades drawn, ate very little and only went out at night so I could avoid people.

During this time, MySpace was in its glory days. Music was every where, and you could easily find new great artists. I always enjoyed music because it was a place for me to escape from my life, which was not an easy task. I could find a song for every emotion and sing along without being ashamed of how horribly I sang. For a few years, music was a place where I found happiness, until I turned 21.

My brother Josh was the center of my family. He was the one who held us all together; The one who joked and laughed the most; The one who dropped what he was doing to help you; The one who gave you silly little gifts that were exactly you. He wasn’t just my brother. He was my best friend.

One night, Josh was headed home from a friend’s house. It was extremely foggy with a five foot visibility. As josh was driving, he came up to a train track crossing with no warning lights or arm bar. A train happened to be crossing the road while heading towards it. I talked to an officer who responded to the accident. He said he could barely see his flashlight beam a few feet in front of him. There were no skid marks on the road, which was an obvious sign that Josh never saw the train. At the young age of 20, we had to say goodbye to my brother.

That is when I stopped caring about music. This lasted for a few years. I still listened to music, but none of it hit my soul like it did before. One day, The Silver Heart Club came along and I turn it up really loud. I sang at the top of my lungs. I attended Bo and Steven’s album release concert and on my hour and a half drive home, I played their song “House Fire” on repeat as the tears flowed. I found the magic again. To be connected; to see how real it is…how real they are. To have a history, a story, a connection, a friendship with the two that put their music out there… to say that I am a fan of music doesn’t even touch how these songs have lit that fire again.

I remembered being in the back seat of the car with Josh leaning on each other to the song, “Lean On Me”. I thought about the two of us singing the country song, “Time Marches On” and recalled the lyric, “The only thing that stays the same is every thing changes”. All of those emotions came flooding in. Once again, I started seeking out new music; really listening to the words again.

One song changed my life around. The pain lays dormant in my heart and shows itself every now and then. There are songs that drag me back to that pain; thinking back to the times when Josh was still here.

I lost my will to sing for four years, afraid to hear songs that Josh and I sang together. Afraid to hear a few words in a song that would reduce me to tears. Thank you Bo and Steven for being brave enough to stand up in front of us and let your voices be heard. Some days music saves me, and some days it breaks my heart. Don’t stop singing, because I will always be listening.

I wrote a eulogy for my mother’s funeral. I recorded myself speaking on my phone with plans to use it for Wendy’s Biography. The audio file has been quietly sitting in my computer since July 18th, 2013. Listening now, it brings back extremely heavy emotions from that very day.

I remember finishing up the eulogy just hours before the funeral, while attempting to get dressed at the same time. The writing was not rushed, but well thought-out as best I could.

There’s a moment in life when you find yourself wanting one thing more than anything else in the entire world. Has anyone ever gotten to that point? And when there’s nothing you can personally do to obtain it, what do you do?

You pray.

As a kid you may have prayed for your parents to buy you a new pair of shoes that you saw at the mall. Now days, kids are probably praying for an iphone. I know my niece and nephews are. Many of us as adults have probably been in a situation where we’re running late for work and we say, “Dear God, please let me make it to work on time!” or “Please don’t let there be any cops on this road!”.

There are plenty of less important things that we sometimes pray about, but right now I’m talking about the moment when we want something much bigger than just a pair of Nikes. The moment when we’re lying in bed with our hands folded tightly together, attempting to make negotiations with God, promising to quit your bad habits, to change the ways you’ve been living, and even give your word that you’ll go to church more often in order for your prayers to be answered in return.

On May 11th, one day before Mother’s Day, my two sisters and I found ourselves sitting beside my mom as she patiently waited in a hospital bed for a knock on her door. The stiff furniture and fluorescent lighting was nothing new to us, as we’ve been in and out of hospitals countless times over the last few years. After a few hours, the doctor eventually came into the room, sat down in an empty chair and started explaining to us in detail how far along my mothers cancer had progressed. It was the first time I had heard someone tell me flat out that my moms condition was terminal.

That’s when I reached my moment.

I put my hands together and began praying harder than I ever have. Thinking that I could make a deal with the Lord, explaining to him that I needed my mom here on this earth in hopes he would heal her from cancer, and we would be able to continue our normal happy lives.

This “lets make a deal” prayer went on for weeks; Every night before I went to bed.
I’m sure a few of you have also tried to compromise with God at some point and even more of you know that just not how God works.

Writing to Wendy

I remember the day my mom called me and told me she was diagnosed with cancer. I also remember the first conversation I had with my dad a week later. He and I were outside in the back yard, tossing fallen tree branches into our fire pit. He tiptoed around the statistics of Ovarian Cancer and eventually let me know the average survival rate of women once they were diagnosed was five years. He ended the conversation with “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

I tried to prepare for the worst, but how can you honestly prepare yourself for the woman who was the core of your family to leave your side? As my sister Calinn put it; She wasn’t just our mom. She was our friend. She would play catch with me for hours, take me fishing, went to every high school sporting event and she supported us in everything we did.

It bothered me to watch our friend and mother go through her journey with cancer and know there was no apparent cure for her disease. Not being able to help your loved ones is an uncomfortable feeling and I didn’t know how to handle it properly.

I blocked it out.

I began consuming myself into my hobbies, because it kept my mind off of what was going on in our home.

This is the day I have been dreading. This is the moment I’ve played over and over in my head, telling myself it won’t happen. God wouldn’t take Wendy from us because we needed her. I needed her.

I’ve heard people use the words “Celebration of Life” many times in the past and I saw it to be a way to disguise death as a positive event. The term just never sat well with me because I never saw death to be something anyone should pretend to find any good in.

My mother made me a birthday cake this summer, just like she has for the last 25 years. The next 30 days, my family and I stood by her side as her health declined faster than I ever imagined it would. Knowing there’s not a thing we could do about it was the absolute worst part.

We continued to pray.

Exactly one month from my birthday, she left us.

Wendy’s Grandchildren

July 4th. I finally understand. I now see why we’re celebrating my mother’s life, rather than mourning. Because if you told me to choose one person whom I knew for a FACT would be going to heaven when they died, my money would be on Wendy Weber.

Knowing my mother is in heaven as we speak is definitely something to celebrate. This is much bigger than any birthday, any anniversary, or any party any of us have ever attended.

This is it.

I may be bias, but from my perspective, my mom was an incredible human being. Look around. Everyone in this room has at least one thing in common with each other. All of you can agree Wendy had a positive impact on each and every one of you and that’s why we’re all here. In her final event, she brought us all together so we could celebrate her beautiful life and be excited for her that she was able to reach a place where most people can only dream of just seeing a glimpse of.

So we get that new pair of shoes and we end up stepping in gum the very first day wearing them. We usually say something like “Why me?”

We get that brand new iphone and somehow it slips out of your hand and the screen shatters on the ground. You ask yourself “Why me?”

You’re on your way to work, going just as fast as everyone else on the road, and YOU get pulled over and ticketed for speeding, and you think “Why me?”

My mom endured over two years of Chemotherapy, accompanied by multiple surgeries, countless needless in her arms, tolerated constant pain and not to mention the impending doom that hung over her head ever single day.

Not once did she say “Why me?”

She was a strong woman and we all know that.

Somehow, she was always able to have a smile on her face, good day or bad. She loved helping others, even when she was the one who needed help. She found joy in other peoples happiness, and that’s just not an easy trait to find in a person. She continued to give, and give and give to others, and never expected anything in return.

I remember her telling me that if doctors were able to save one person from the information they gathered on the tests she was involved in, it would be worth it to her. Can you honestly say, you would exchange your life for a stranger’s?

I can’t.

So what do you do when your prayers go unanswered? You might become bitter and angry, even take your frustrations out on others because of it. You hear people being healed by miracles all the time. My mom had thousands of people praying for her, and a miracle was nowhere to be seen.

My sisters and I accumulated an immeasurable amount of wisdom from my mother. Yet, during these last two years or more, I feel I have learned more from her than I ever have my entire life.
I learned even more from her actions, rather than her words. For example: You cannot simply tell someone “Overcome the negatives in life. Find the positive in all situations” and expect them to naturally live by it, because in order to obtain optimism, you need to be around people who are optimistic.

Positivity is a contagious personality trait that rubs off on those we come in contact with.

So instead of feeling bitter and angry that God took my mom, I began to pray for patience and understanding. I soon realized what I think is best for me, may not be what’s best for others and may not even be what’s best for me in the future. It’s impossible to see the big picture before its ready to be seen. We just have to trust that everything will eventually fall into place.

Giving our worries to God

Another awesome trait my mother had other than her infectious upbeat personality, is unquestionable faith. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her because of that. To believe whole-heartedly in something that cannot be seen, to live firmly by the rules of Christianity and trust that the Lord will take care of her is truly something amazing. That takes a lot of courage and that’s something I still hope to acquire from her someday.

For those of you who didn’t get a chance to hear Wendy’s voice on cancer, she believed God gave it to her. She believed that she was meant for a bigger purpose and that she would make a powerful impact on others lives in ways that were unknowable. Boy has she ever.

She had a positive influence on us more than she will ever know and she’s not done. I know will continue learning from my mother as I continue my walk though life, because I realize she doesn’t need to be on this earth in order to be apart of our lives. Our memory of her will always be here with every single one of us.

If I had one piece of advice for those of you who haven’t been on this side of the fence yet, it would be spend as much time as you can with your family. Don’t let life get in the way of being with the ones you love. Take your mom to a movie and go fishing with your dad. Do everything possible to avoid regret, because regret sticks with you for a lifetime and nobody deserves to carry that.

I wrote this piece so I could tell everyone what kind of woman my mother was. But after yesterday, I realized this wasn’t necessary. As I got a chance to talk briefly with everyone who was at the visitation, people continued to tell me the kind of woman my mother was. People I’ve never met. Some people, who may have only shared a few moments with Wendy, had the most wonderful things to say about her.

Although Ovarian Cancer was an important part of my mother’s life, she made it clear that Cancer didn’t define her as a person. We have 50 wonderful years to remember her, by who she was as an individual. I am so grateful to have had Wendy as my mother. The memories we made together will always make me smile, and the love she had for everyone will never be forgotten.

Day’s before Wendy passed, her bible at her bedside. I was sitting beside her as she slept. Looking for a sign, I decided to open the bible to a random page. This is where the book split.

]]>http://www.boweber.com/news/a-eulogy-for-wendy/feed/3Inspirational Quoteshttp://www.boweber.com/news/inspirational-quotes/
http://www.boweber.com/news/inspirational-quotes/#respondSat, 29 Aug 2015 21:23:11 +0000http://www.boweber.com/?p=540Hello everyone! I want to share some quotes and thoughts with you that helped me
stay motivated. I try to apply them to my life as often as possible. I hope you will read at least one that
sticks with you. I encourage you to write them down on paper and place them in a spot where you will read them
daily! After all, we are only human and we need constant reminders!

–*–

“Be your own role model” — Unknown

“You are what you repeatedly do.” — Aristotle

“There is no such ting as failure, only early attempts at success.” — Unknown

“What is a big shot, but a little shot who kept on shooting?” — Christopher Morley

“What you resist persists. What you accept gives you power to use.” — Brian Tracy

“The story of a human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.” — Abraham Maslow

“Natural talent is a willingness to study and persevere in the face of rejection.” — Unknown

“Paralyze resistance with persistence.” — Woody Hayes

“What you dwell upon grows.” — Brian Tracy

“You are a living magnet. You attract people and circumstances in harmony with your dominant thoughts. All the people around you have been attracted to you because of the life decisions you have made and the personality you are emitting.” –Brian Tracy

“If you can’t get your dream job, create it.” — Unknown

“Leave others better than you found them.” — Unknown

14 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

1. Give up your need to always be right

2. Give up your need for control

3. Give up on blame

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk.

5. Give up your limiting beliefs.

6. Give up complaining.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism.

8. Give up your need to impress others.

9. Give up on your fears.

10. Give up the past.

11. Give up your excuses.

12. Give up attachments.

13.Give up living your life to other people’s expectations.

14. Give up your resistance to change.

#14 This is the most important. Without change, you will accomplish nothing.

]]>http://www.boweber.com/news/inspirational-quotes/feed/0“California Babe” Official Music Video Releasehttp://www.boweber.com/news/california-babe-official-music-video-release/
http://www.boweber.com/news/california-babe-official-music-video-release/#respondThu, 30 Jul 2015 00:36:21 +0000http://www.boweber.com/?p=457I am proud to share with you my very first single “California Babe”. Download this song for free here! Enjoy!

]]>http://www.boweber.com/news/california-babe-official-music-video-release/feed/0How To Pierce Your Lip: DIYhttp://www.boweber.com/news/how-to-pierce-your-lip-diy/
http://www.boweber.com/news/how-to-pierce-your-lip-diy/#respondFri, 26 Jun 2015 01:28:22 +0000http://www.boweber.com/?p=426DIY Piercing can save you a good amount of money. Rather than going to a shop and paying $30+, you can do the same for about $5.

1. Choose Lip Ring Size
You can use whichever gauge you prefer, just make sure the size of your needle matches the size of your ring.

I blindly chose the ring at a kiosk at the mall. It did not show the size of the ring, which turned out to be larger than the 16 gauge needle I used. Bad deal.

2. Clean The Area:
Be sure to clean your lip, needle, and ring with Isopropyl Alcohol. You do not want your lip to become infected by some gross germs.

3. Go for it!
Don’t be afraid, just do it! Push it through in one fluid motion. The pain only lasts a second and its done. You may feel a little shaky from the slight adrenaline rush. It’s actually kind of exciting. No ice needed. I’ve found that icing your lip beford hand makes the area more sensitive.

Note: Since I had a dimple where my old piercing scarred up, I wanted to hit the same area, to avoid having 2 holes in my lip. You should pierce your lip from the inside, out. Not the other way around.

4. Regularly Clean Your Piercing:

Again, keeping your piercing free from infection is the most important thing. Use Sea Salt to clean around the piercing at least once a day.